Commercial Food Photography in Southampton

I'm Ryan Stanikk, a commercial food and drink photographer based in Southampton, working with restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and food brands across Hampshire and the UK. The aim on every shoot is the same: make the viewer hungry, and capture the atmosphere the venue actually has. My background in design means I pay close attention to colour accuracy, composition and balance within the frame, so every shot feels intentional and true to the dish. The style adapts to the client. Bright and fresh for a modern cafe, dark and moody for a cocktail bar, refined and warm for fine dining. It's not just what's on the plate, it's the feeling of sitting down to it.

What I Shoot

Menu relaunches, seasonal updates, social media content days, cocktail and drinks shoots, hero shots for hospitality brand campaigns, lifestyle dining imagery, packaging and product work for food brands, and clean white-background shots for delivery platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. I cover everything from a single dish to a full venue overhaul where food, interiors and chef portraits are shot in one efficient session. I also do full restaurant shoots where the brief is to create a complete image library a venue can draw from for the next twelve months.

Lighting and Why It Matters

Most venues are lit for the people sitting in them, not for a camera. I bring my own lighting kit to almost every food and drink shoot so the result doesn't depend on the weather or the colour temperature of the bulbs above the table. That control is the difference between professional commercial imagery and photos that look like someone walked in with a nice camera. There's a longer write-up on how I approach this in why I don't rely on UK light.

Restaurant & Hospitality Clients

Across Southampton, Hampshire and the wider UK, I've shot for independent restaurants, bars, cafes, hospitality groups and food brands including Figurati, Konjiki, Padharo, Kesarum, Porters, Room2, Mettricks, Ocean Grill, Sakura, Sprinkles, Banana Wharf, Mortimer Arms, Mango, Barga and more. Work ranges from full menu relaunches and social media content days through to product shots for delivery platforms and hospitality brand campaigns. Whether you need ongoing seasonal content or a one-off set of hero images, I can structure the day around your team and kitchen schedule to keep everything moving efficiently.

How a Shoot Day Runs

For a typical menu shoot, I arrive an hour before the kitchen starts plating to set up lighting, surfaces and props. The kitchen sends out dishes in the order that suits them, and I work through them one at a time, getting two or three angles on each one. A focused half day comfortably covers eight to twelve dishes. A full day is closer to twenty if the kitchen flow is good. For drinks, I'll usually shoot the cocktails and any spirit bottle hero shots either before or after service so the bar isn't being pulled in two directions at once. There's more on the day-to-day in what to expect from a restaurant photo shoot, and on the difference between commercial and artistic plates in commercial vs artistic food photos.

What You Get

Every shoot is delivered in colour-managed files ready for web, print and social, with edited versions optimised for the platforms you actually use. I can work alongside your in-house stylist and kitchen team or handle the full setup myself for most restaurant and cafe briefs. If you also need product photography for packaging, drinks branding or e-commerce, or wider commercial photography across your business, I cover those too. There's also a Hampshire-wide overview at the commercial photographer Hampshire page if you're outside Southampton, and indicative rates on the pricing reference. Have a look at the FAQs for common questions, or get in touch to talk about your next shoot.